It is known that umbrellas, or sunshades, have been used to provide shade from the sun. Commonly used in backyards, at a beach, in a park, or at any other outdoor location, sunshades are typically set up near a table or a sitting area to provide people with shade.
Some sunshades come modified so that they may be placed on a table, or for example, through an opening in the center of a table so that the sunshade provides shade for individuals sitting at that table. However, as a day progresses, the angle at which the sun's rays hit the sunshade change, and thus the area that is shaded changes as well. An individual enjoying the shade must then move, or move the entire table in order to continue enjoying the shade. Typically, this proves too burdensome, as the table is heavy, or attached to a surface so that changing its location is impossible or impractical.
Other sunshades come attached to tables, or to heavy bases made of cement, or are somehow permanently affixed to the ground. These present the same problem because an individual typically has to change locations throughout the day as the angle at which the sun's rays hit the sunshade constantly changes. Thus, the user will have to constantly move locations in order to be positioned so that they can continue to enjoy the shade, and thus, in many instances the sunshade becomes useless as a source of shade from the sun.
One solution is always to simply reposition the sunshade no matter how large and heavy it is. By placing the sunshade either at a different angle, or in a different location, the user will be able to create the desired shade depending on the hour of the day. However, as stated above, this is undesirable because a user enjoying a day by, for example, the pool, will have to do so continuously throughout the day, which means constantly moving the sunshade from one location to another. Furthermore, depending on the user, for example kids, this may prove an impossible task when dealing with very heavy sunshades or sunshades affixed to the ground.
The prior art tries to address this problem by providing some umbrellas or sunshades with a tilting mechanism about halfway or towards a top portion of the umbrella or sunshade. This, however, does not address the issue of maximizing shade. For example, such devices only provide limited cover because the tilted portion of the umbrella begins too high up and thus too far from the user, lessening the shaded area coverage of the umbrella or sunshade. This leads to light that penetrates and often hits a user in an undesired manner. Hence, these devices do not properly maximize the shaded area potential that an umbrella can provide.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a sunshade that is easily adjustable, and could be controlled to provide maximal shade throughout the day without forcing a user to relocate from their current position, physically move the entire sunshade, or worry whether the sunshade is or is not permanently affixed to a surface.
Therefore, in light of the problems presented by the prior art, there is a need in the art for a device or apparatus for controlling tilt and pivot movement of an umbrella in order to provide shade throughout the day. It is to these ends that the present invention has been developed.